9 week old 'pullet' crowing??

[chooks4life]

He has changed a lot, lol! You can't get any indication from looking at purebreds of the sheer amount of mixed and matched (and sometimes mismatched) colors and patterns and shades and feather types and sheen colors you can get all on the one bird. It's another reason I love my mutts. Not sure what breed your is, but he seems to think he ought to be a fancy one.

Not sure what you mean by separating him and keeping him that way...? If you mean with a hen or two that'd be fine, but if you mean by himself that wouldn't work, he'd go nuts from loneliness. As to whether or not you keep him, best wishes with that. If you're able to keep a rooster (or several) and don't tolerate vicious birds, it's a great addition to your flock. Contrary to popular belief a rooster doesn't 'need' more than one hen. Generally people add more for a few reasons as well as so the rooster doesn't bother the hen too much, as a lot of the domestic roosters, unlike their ancestors, are only good for two things... Mating and being eaten. More hens is fine, but he won't die for lack of more; I'm not sure what you mean by saying you don't have room for a rooster as you only have 7 hens....? Roosters are a great part of the chook keeping experience if you don't allow a bird with a foul attitude that makes your life, your flock's lives and your family's life miserable. No bird is worth that much, but a great rooster is an additional joy.

Best wishes, hope it all goes well.

 

[TaylorChicks]

Thanks for your reply!

What I mean by separating him is keeping him outside the run while the girls are inside the run. They have a 12x16 run. It sounds like that really wouldn't work then?

I had just read several places that any less than 10 hens per one rooster isn't a good idea. We only have six hens and I thought he would pester them and stress them out. I think we will just see how it goes and see how his personality is.

 

[nbenevento]

In my opinion, 10 hens to 1 rooster is actually pushing the limit to making sure everyone has fertile eggs. 1 rooster to 6 hens is a great ratio!

 

[JanO]

I currently have one rooster and five hens of laying age and the ratio is working out well. I also have six pullets who will be laying in the fall, so that will be eleven to one rooster but I'm not worrying about it too much. Unless you want a lot of eggs for hatching and fertility is a big factor you should be fine.

 

[TaylorChicks]

Fertility is not a factor at all for us. We want a lot of eggs for the kitchen, but are not interested in any baby chicks (for now anyway!). So I think we will see how this goes with the one rooster. It just really depends on his personality and how the girls do with him and how he is toward us. We have small kids, so a mean rooster won't fit our family very well.

This chicken is one of our son's chickens and he's really bummed about maybe having to get rid of him. We are going to try to keep him.

 

[JanO]

If he's raised with the flock he shouldn't have a problem. I really have never had a rooster attempt to turn mean until it's a couple of years old, or unless there is another rooster around. Of course the first sign that they are thinking about it they are out of here. I won't put up with a mean rooster either.

 

[aggiemae]

um...I was comparing two chicks of the same breed observed of a period of weeks.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I know, I just added a little disclaimer. Wasn't disagreeing with what you said, it was more for the benefit of any newer chook keepers who might read what you wrote as a guaranteed method of sexing.

Edit: specifically: even hens from the same mother and father can hold their tails differently. Even among purebreds. Some of it's attitude driven, and some of it's breed driven/specific, some of it's gender-specific.

 

[TaylorChicks]

He's all Rooster!

 

[chooks4life]

Thanks for the update. Hope he stays a good boy. Best wishes.